Who Are You Not What Are You Good At

I finally got to watch The Wrestler recently. I saw a film that told a wonderful morality play along the lines of what happens when you invest your life into something at the cost of everything and you are defined by what you do rather than investing in who you are called to be as a character.

This is particularly poignant if we are particularly good at what we are doing – if it gets us acclaim, fame and that glimmer of glory that is like a whiff of something intoxicating, alluring and compulsively addictive. We are good at it, so we become one with it and no longer have the emotional or character skills to deal with life when we are no longer the best at what we do and there is nothing left to life for us.

Someone said that it was a film that dragged for her, but to me it travelled at a measured pace ticking all the journey marks of a good story – tell the basic areas of the character’s life, introduce the main character, let us know what the main theme of the brother’s life is, give us the crucial up and down points, lead us to the finish. It does this well, it takes us on an emotional rollercoaster but in no way at a stomach churning pace.

So I enjoyed watching the film and came away thanking God again that He has delivered us from any other preoccupation other than being His sons, so that I don’t find my identity in anything else than that – not what I do, or who knows me or how well I am known. I also left hoping others would likewise be set free from such a dangerous clinch on the world and the things of the world.

To be lonely is a very sad thing and there we don’t have true love that forgives, that puts relationships as a priority and that can allow us to find contentment in the simplicity of life and not be wracked by a need to be fulfilled by the temporary.

So I was reflecting on some of the lessons I learnt from The Wrestler and continued reading the book of the moment which is the autobiography of Eric Bristow I was walking home and as usual thinking. The Bristow book is definitely about a man who became obsessed with something he was good at to the cost of virtually everything else. Whilst taking all that in, I thought again about King David’s issue with Bathsheba (found in 2 Samuel 11 and 12).

There is a reading of the story that goes as follows. David took time off from doing what he’s always meant to be doing, i.e. leading the troops. Because he took that time off he was susceptible to being caught off guard and hence the whole mess and so the lesson to learn is to always be at our post doing what we’re meant to be doing so we don’t foul up as David did.

The problem with that reading is that it doesn’t actually address the fact that David’s actions with Bathsheba exposes the dark heart of what David is capable of to himself more than anyone. It exposes his spiritual bankruptcy and vulnerability to the many sins that plague a lot of men. To leave it down to the brother taking a break actually reinforces the sort of thinking that makes the Protestant Ethic such a popular thing for work-a-holics.

There is something to be said about being where you need to be, doing what need to be doing so as not to be caught out. In this case, however, there is more to it than that. It fits a better picture of our growing understanding of what the life of every faith-traveller reveals – after the initial encounter with God others follow like this that are not meant for someone’s elevation but again to bring the traveller to an appreciation of their utter dependency on God because of the deeper issues in life.

I trust that out identity will continually be tried by God so that all the dross is dealt with, in whatever season of life and we won’t be dependent on something we’re good at or something we desire of limited value. Rather our desire will again be determined by God telling us that we are His and He is ours.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

Seeking in Surrogates

I have no idea what it is this year about the movies. In the first quarter there were a few things that got my interest, but really since then the choice of films on offer has been somewhat substandard. Transformers 2 was alright, but GI Joe was disappointing. The Taking of Pelham 123 was actually a pretty decent film, but other than that the choice has been fairly poor and someone really must have thought that witchcraft and that kinda jazz sells. Whatever.

So of late I’ve been a bit bored with the fare and given the movies a wide berth which is disappointing. However lately there has been a film or two that has taken my interest and for the first time in weeks I’ve made it into a cinema. (Of course the discount I get as a student was also an inducement.)

I’ve never been the biggest fan of Bruce Willis. Not to say I hate the guy or dislike his movies, I’ve just not been taken with his material and don’t think of him as that much of a big deal. I acknowledge his skill though in playing certain roles well. He seems to choose stuff that doesn’t require too much of a stretch for his core abilities so when he does the part he can be as convincing as he needs to be. For example I was a fan of his work in Unbreakable.

So with all that on board I wasn’t going out to watch a Bruce Willis film when I heard about Surrogates I was looking forward to watching a film that happened to have Willis in it. I was so glad I did watch it because it turned out to be one of the better films of the year.

One thing that did ring true with one of the reviews was their comment that it was a bit like I, Robot. I was thinking how disappointing I, Robot was. In contrast I really enjoyed the film.

What I enjoyed about the film are the many questions it raised about identity, control, power, freedom and the role of technology in fulfilling our desires. I do love a film sets up those moral dilemmas and those are strewn throughout the film especially the premise for the climax.

One thing it also highlighted again was the following questions:

Who are we really?

Can we be anything we want to be?

What happens when the opportunity comes to do just that but at a cost?

What is more important, your ability to do what you want or your responsibility to others?

Who or what defines us?

Who has the right to rule over us?

What role does technology play in the development of who we are as humans?

What does freedom mean, in an age where it’s not always clear who is on the side of it and what its costs are?

It’s particularly appropriate as the month of October looms and we look at those issues through various means and all with the desire to get a Christocentric understanding of the topic in question.

I recommend you check the movie, although you won’t have to for answering these questions that you can begin exploring now.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

And The Rest …

This week through many different encounters and experiences I’ve been reminded about how essential and difficult it is to follow Jesus and Jesus only. There are so many competing issues and factors that can demand so much of us. Some of them normal and understandable factors, others less so, but the similarity between them is that they often compete to take dominance in our lives to the cost of the Lordship of Christ. Realising that we are hid in Christ and when the Father considers us, He considers His Son has a dramatic effect on issues of identity.

My name is Dryden because my dad is Dryden. Many personal characteristics have been inherited from him and concepts of manhood have been heavily influenced by his manhood. I am my dad’s son and carry that with me wherever I go whether conscious of it or not. I am not a facsimile of my dad, but there can be no denying to whom I belong. Once I am reconciled to the heavenly Father my identity is like that of His Son’s – I am His and He is mine. I can refer to Him as Dad on the understanding that I have personal contact with Him as His son. His characteristics slowly become my own (sometimes too slowly, perhaps), His issues slowly become my own and I find my priorities being done in a manner to be pleasing to Him as my Dad.

Previously before connections with the heavenly Dad I was often conflicted on issues of identity. To be fair even after being hooked up again with God as Father I was still not getting who I am and what it meant to be a child of His. In the confusion I fell into pressure – pressure to live up to people’s expectations of me. What was I meant to do and be as a Christian? What does that look like? Whenever those questions are asked formality is easy to fall into – being a Christian is doing this, wearing this, saying this, acting like this. All nice instructions, but without Spirit and intent it can be lifeless forms of godliness with no power behind it. Worse still it can also lead to judgementality based on that image of Christianity.

In actuality the freedom that the Spirit offers is not one of conforming to such rigid formality, but being transformed by the renewing of the mind to actually fit God’s will for how I’m to be shaped by His Word. That’s why His Son was so controversial, because He never came to reinforce the common concepts of formal worship; rather He came to liberate people to engage with the Father in Spirit and truth. That makes the whole identity issue something that is not so rigid, formal and oppressing. It doesn’t relieve you of personal issues and challenges but all of a sudden where there were pressures and conflicts God genuinely offers peace.

I cannot tell you what a joy it is to approach Sabbath every week (although it’s not the first time I’ve spoken of it and it’s worth having a blast from the past with reading what I said all those years ago). I so long to enjoy the rest offered in it as a window of opportunity to embrace what Jesus invited me to when He called me to follow Him. I love the thought of bathing in my identity not being based on what I do, but what He has done and the promise to be fulfilled in the time to come when this corruptible will put on incorruptible.

Hebrews in establishing the supremacy of Christ above all things past, present and future, especially under pressure to conform to the status quo, highlights the hope we look forward to in the rest. I so love Jesus for reinforcing a time to rest in who He is and to do that in community with other brothers and sisters who share such a hope and joy. I so love Jesus for giving us a time to enjoy that rest in Him through the cessation of everyday work and just reflecting that in our engagement with our community and God’s creation. To me observing the Sabbath is not about legalism, but about liberation and I’m just grateful for it.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd

Daily Thoughts - Weekend Extended Edition - Light on Identity

But you are God's chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done. (1 Peter 2:9)

On Thursday a group from the YMCA went to view the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool. This was part of the Christian Spiritual Development (CSD) month on the theme of slavery and freedom.

An interesting exhibit was on the strategy of the slave owners to destabilise the African slaves they had recruited by separating them from family and treating them little better than their own cattle. Hundreds of years later young people from an African-Caribbean background still struggle with a sense of identity – not just what it means to be black, or African, or Caribbean but even what it is to be a man or a woman.

The strategy of destabilising people by robbing them of their identity is not a new tactic, neither is it one that only those of African descent suffer from. The effects of the slavery of sin leave humanity itself deluded by a false notion of who they are. This has been brilliantly masked in the whole drive of ‘self-esteem’ where the focus is to look at the self first and get a good feeling about yourself before engaging with others. The problem here is the same problem that is seen in asking a broken pot to fix itself – though it may recognise it’s brokenness it evidently doesn’t have the resources to fix itself, however the pieces are readjusted. What is patently needed is the Master Potter who knows how to mould these pots as they ought to be. So when the focus is on the Potter, rather than ourselves, the healing process is likely to be substantial, meaningful and whole, rather than a shallow cover job.

Realising the great job that has been done in our lives in being brought from darkness into light, realising who we are as a result of this great transaction we are thus free to share with others what’s been done in our lives and who others can look to in hope of experiencing real enlightenment. The identity crisis is really over in the light of who God is in Christ and who we are in the light of His love.

For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
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